ICv2 are reporting that Wizards of the Coast will no longer manage the board game brand Avalon Hill.
Avalon Hill publishes popular board games like Betrayal At House on the Hill, Betrayal Legacy and the Scooby Doo: Betrayal at Mystery Mansion spin-off as well as Diplomacy, Risk, Robo Rally, Acquire and Axis & Allies among others.
The mood around board games is bullish, the investors Andreessen Horowitz recently forecast a robust digital future for tabletop games, game maker Rebellion created Rebellion Unplugged and today Games Workshop’s shares are up 18% after better than expected results.
According to ICv2’s report, control of Avalon Hill is moving from Wizards of the Coast remit to a new position directly under the parent company Hasbro.
In the short term, this may affect the distribution of Avalon Hill games. Wizards of the Coast have encouraged retailers to talk to their distributors directly to make sure they can still source the games.
In the long term, this may indicate a desire from Hasbro to do more with Avalon Hill. As ICv2 points out, under Wizards of the Coast, the board game brand has been relatively quiet with an average of only two new games a year. In contrast, CMON has Kickstarted four significant games in 2020 alone; Marvel United, Ankh: Gods of Egypt, CMON Comics and Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape.
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